Medical catheters, particularly uretheral catheters, which incorporate antimicrobial agents that release metallic ions when introduced to a body cavity for reducing inflammation and infection, are usually made in either of two methods. In the first method, the catheter surfaces are treated with a lacquer which includes an antimicrobial agent as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,054,139 and 4,612,337. This method has the disadvantage of involving multiple steps, such as, soaking, saturating and drying the catheter material.
In the second method, the entire catheter is manufactured with a solid polymer material which contains an antimicrobial agent. This method has the disadvantages of being expensive and involving a complicated manufacturing process because catheters require various types of surface geometry that may be difficult to achieve with polymers that have been modified with antimicrobial agents. Moreover, this method is substantially more expensive because it requires larger amounts of antimicrobial agents than the above-described coating method.
The term antimicrobial as used herein means a material or substance capable of destroying or suppressing the growth microorganisms that cause inflammations and infection in and around body cavities.